No. 11 Arizona heads into the postseason this week going in the opposite direction from where most teams want to be headed at this time of the year. The Wildcats (15-4) lost their final two games of the season and didn't look sharp in a win over Cal in the matchup prior to those two defeats.
Head coach Adia Barnes has been encouraged by her team's energy heading into the Pac-12 Tournament this week, but the true test will come at 6 p.m. MST on Thursday night when the second-seeded Wildcats will take on No. 7 seed Washington State at Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 Tournament.
"For us it's a new season," Barnes said Wednesday shortly after her team was COVID tested ahead of Thursday's matchup. "I don't feel like our team ended as great as we could have just with the way we played. Obviously, in the loss at ASU. But, now it's phase two, it's another season.
"This is when it all matters and this is what you work all year for. For these moments. So, I"m excited. I'm super excited."
Arizona has certainly had hiccups along the way this season, but its 66-64 loss to rival Arizona State was one of the most notable losses of the year for the Wildcats. Switching gears and locking in for a matchup against the Cougars on Thursday night will be no easy task, but Barnes has optimism about where her team is headed despite its rocky finish to the regular season.
"I think we're super focused and hungry this year," Barnes said about her team's mentality after not having an opportunity to play in the NCAA Tournament last season. "So, I think we're coming into Pac-12 more hungry and knowing that we can win it. I think last year we know, 'OK, there's a possibility.'
"... So, I just think that we came here with a different confidence and I think we're ready. I think the ASU loss might've been a really good wakeup call for us."
In the time since Sunday's loss to the Sun Devils there has been a focus for Arizona on regaining the form it had earlier in the season in wins over programs such as Oregon and UCLA. Barnes feels the team faced a similar situation when it lost to Washington State on the road earlier in the season.
The Wildcats reeled off seven straight victories after that defeat in Pullman, and the Arizona head coach is hoping for a similar type of run after the loss to ASU.
"We just got our butts kicked last weekend, and I think that was a little bit of a reality check," she said when discussing the days leading up to Thursday's matchup. "It humbled us a little bit. I think you saw a different sense of urgency, which is good because I hadn't seen that in a while. That told me they're responding. So, I'm excited to see how we respond [Thursday], but we're communicating better, playing hard, competing.
"It was really good because it was a hard practice."
One area where the Wildcats need to improve to make a deep run this month is on offense. Led by Pac-12 Player of the Year and Co-Defensive Player of the Year Aari McDonald along with veteran forward Sam Thomas the UA defense is certainly the strongest aspect of the team, but its ability to score points late in the year has put the team in a tough position.
For Barnes it comes down to taking smart shots and trusting the game plan on that end of the floor to have better results.
"If we move the ball and don't force things and take open shots those are gonna be high-percentage shots," Barnes said about the key to changing her team's success level on offense. "You'll see us shoot almost 40% or 40-plus%. It's all about our shot selection, so I'm making sure that I'm emphasizing that. Showing them on film.
"We took a ton of bad shots against ASU, and we took a lot against Cal. When you take bad shots you're unorganized on defense. So, we cannot do that. We have to take good shots and have to play for each others. I think that sometimes when there's a struggle in a game, it's not a selfish thing because we're not a selfish team, it's a wanting to do things yourself or make something happen, but when everybody's doing that we're discombobulated."
The Cougars knocked off Utah 57-48 on Wednesday to move ahead to the quarterfinal round of the conference tournament. Washington State has given the Wildcats a challenge this season both in the 71-69 game in Pullman and the 60-51 win for UA in Tucson last month.
Sisters Charlisse and Krystal Leger-Walker scored in double figures in both matchups this season and are just part of the challenge UA will face Thursday night.
"I think what's hard about Washington State is they really spread you out," Barnes said. "They're scout specific, so they don't guard certain people. They run a lot of misdirection, and when they're shooting the ball they're hard to guard because of the way they spread you. Then they have a good post player that can score inside.
"So, they're a scary team. At this point, at this time of the year everybody's good and you can't overlook anybody, because if you look to the next game you're probably not gonna pass the first one. I think we've learned our lesson a couple years in a row losing our last regular season game. To me that's a lack of focus."
The winner of Thursday night's game will advance to the semifinal round of the tournament on Friday to face the winner of a matchup between No. 3 seed UCLA and 11th-seeded Washington.
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